The love of life

As you read this column, just think of the killings that are taking place in our homes, neighborhoods, cities, towns and countries throughout the world. Guns, bombs and other instruments of destruction have no brain and therefore those who use these killing instruments are the predictors of life and death of innocent people.

Not to take up much of your time by preaching, let me indulge you with some words of wisdom from the past about life given by our ancestors in the hope that the world could survive and be enjoyed by all living creatures.

“Live as with God; and whatever be your calling, pray for the gift that will perfectly qualify you in it.”—Horace Bushnell, 1802-1876, American Congregational clergyman.

“Half the confusion in the world comes from not knowing how little we need…I live more simply now and with more peace.”—Richard Evelyn Byrd, 1888-1957, American polar explorer.

“One life; a little gleam of time between two eternities; no second chance for us forevermore.” —Thomas Carlyle, 1795-1881, Scottish essayist.

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon, instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.”—Mark Twain, 1835-1910, American humorist.

“I count all that part of my life lost which I spent not in communion with God, or in doing good.” —John Donne, 1573-1631, English poet.

“Life does not count by years. Some suffer a lifetime in a day, and so grow old between the rising and the setting of the sun.”—Agusta Jane Evans, 1835-1909, American novelist.

“Don’t believe the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing. It was here first.” —Robert Jones Burdette, 1844-1914, American Baptist clergyman.

“All the animals excepting man, know that the principal business of life is to enjoy it.”—Samuel Butler, 1835-1902, English satirist.

“Life is the childhood of our immortality.”—Johann Goethe, 1749-1832, German poet.

“Life is an exciting business and most exciting when it is lived for others.”—Helen Adams Keller, 1880-1968, American author.